Surrealism in the Pre-School Years

Check out this fascinating article in Design Observer about the book Babylon: Surreal Babies, dedicated to a set of postcards from the collection of the British art dealer James Birch. The postcards feature babies in very odd and surreal photo collages, and are dated from between 1900 and 1920. Kinda freaky, actually.

automatism vintage

A quick note to let you know that I've added new titles — and updated many of the current ones with freshly shot photos — on automatism vintage, my vintage book shop on etsy. Hope you can pop by for a look — I know that postcard people are often bookish people!

:-)


(photo by me)

The Englishman Who Posted Himself and Other Curious Objects

Deirdre Foley-Mendelssohn of the New Yorker has a fun review of The Englishman Who Posted Himself and Other Curious Objects, the intriguingly titled new book by John Tingey about eccentric Englishman W. Reginald Bray (1879-1939) who, after reading the entire British Post Office Guide, decided to take the rules as challenges. Foley-Mendelssohn writes that " ... Bray tried posting an unimaginable array of things, to see whether the post office would deliver them. Apparently, at the time, the smallest item that could be posted was a bee, and the largest an elephant. Bray seems to have tried most things in between." I definitely have to get this book. Read the rest of the review (and see a little slide show from the book) here.